A normal user's look into the world of 3D Stereo Technologies

Not only ASUS announced a new G-SYNC monitor – the ROG SWIFT PG278Q G-SYNC monitor at CES 2014, but most other Nvidia partners that are expected to launch monitor with built-in support for the G-SYNC technology have shown their upcoming products. The ASUS ROG SWIFT PG278Q however remains the most interesting product as it is the first one with official support for 120Hz resolution on a panel that goes beyond Full HD resolution, even though not 3D Vision support for it has been announced. All other announced models are in the form of 24-inch and 27-inch models with 1080p resolution and apparently only BenQ’s products will have support for the 3D Vision technology, or at least only that company is talking about 3D Vision support on their upcoming G-SYNC products.

The 27-inch Philips 272G5DYEB is going to be a Full HD monitor with G-SYNC support and 144Hz maximum refresh rate, no 3D Vision support, but we did not expect to see that feature available on a Philips product anyway as the company has not yet released even a single 3D Vision ready product although it has multiple models with over 60Hz refresh rate and 3D support. Philips 272G5DYEB should be available this spring with expected end user price of $649 USD. The BenQ XL2420G and BenQ XL2420G are respectively 24-inch and 27-inch models with Full HD resolution and G-SYNC support and BenQ does mention 3D Vision mode available in their press release, though you would probably need an external 3D Vision kit to use these display in stereo 3D mode. The BenQ XL2420G and BenQ XL2420G monitors should be available in Q1 2014 according to the company, or with other words probably earlier than the ASUS G-SYNC monitor, prices however haven’t been revealed for now. There is also the 24-inch ViewSonic VX2457GML monitor that will also be a Full HD display, but there are still not that much details about this one. AOC should be announcing their G-SYNC enabled solutions and maybe some time soon we can also get to see an announcement for a 4K display with support for G-SYNC.

Aside form these announcements about monitors, Nvidia has also announced that people in the US and Canada that own the ASUS VG248QE monitor would be able to very soon order the G-SYNC DIY Upgrade kit from the NVIDIA Store for $199, presumably available there by the end of the week. If you don’t live in US or Canada however you would still be out of luck and not able to easily get your hands on early on a G-SYNC kit or a monitor with one, unless you are willing to play quite a lot of money on top to import one from US. So better wait for the upcoming products that will come with built-in G-SYNC support in the the following months…

Here comes the announcement of the first Nvidia G-SYNC enabled monitor at CES 2014 fromm ASUS – the ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q. The monitor supports WQHD 2560×1440 resolution and ASUS says it is a 120+ Hz display, so this is also the first monitor to officially support 120Hz refresh rate with a resolution over 1920×1080. What is not so good news for some people is the that the display probably uses a TN panel, something that is suggested by the announced 1ms response time. And the other not so good news is that there is not a single mention of 3D Vision support, so apparently this display from ASUS is not 3D-capable, meaning we are still don’t have a 3D Vision monitor with a resolution higher than 1080p.

The ROG SWIFT PG278Q is also the world’s first WQHD monitor powered by NVIDIA G-SYNC technology. NVIDIA G-SYNC, a breakthrough in display technology, synchronizes the display’s refresh rates to the GPU. The ROG SWIFT PG278Q eliminates screen tearing, minimizes stutter and input lag to deliver the smoothest gaming experience possible. With G-SYNC technology objects look sharper and more vibrant, while gameplay is more fluid and responsive.

According to ASUS the ROG SWIFT PG278Q monitor availability is expected at the beginning Q2 this year for the Asian Pacific, European and North America markets. So we can expect to see this monitor available as early April this year with an expected price of $799 USD. As a comparison you might be able to get earlier an ASUS VG248QE monitor modified to support Nvidia’s G-SYNC technology for about $500 USD, however this is a 24-inch model with 1920×1080 resolution and the ASUS ROG SWIFT PG278Q monitor is 27-inch and with 2560×1440 resolution. It would’ve been nice if this was also announced as a 3D Vision monitor, but there is still some time left until it’s release, so it could get certified by the time for the official release on the market as it has the required features to support stereoscopic 3D as well.